Athletic glove



March 24, 1970 sTANsBERRY ET AL 3,501,773

ATHLETIC GLOVE s Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 13, 1969 INVENTOR TROY A. STANSBERRY JAMES C. WHEELER.

BY E u- L ATTORNEY T. A. STANSBERRY ET AL 3,501,773

March 24, 1970 ATHLETIC GLOVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 15, 1969 FIG 7 HG IO INVENTOR TROY A. STANSBERRY. JAMES C. WHEELER.

ATTORNEY March 24, 1970 STANSBERRY ETAL 3,501,773

ATHLETIC GLOVE Filed March 13, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIGII INVENTORS TROY A. STANSBERRY JAMES C. WHEEER BY 5MJWM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,501,773 ATHLETIC GLOVE Troy A. Stansberry, 2056 Mercer Ave., and James C. Wheeler, 1648 Hawthorne Ave., both of College Park, Ga. 60481 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 658,471, Aug. 4, 1967. This application Mar. 13, 1969, Ser. No. 814,877

Int. Cl. A41d 19/00 US. Cl. 2-159 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A glove has an elastic member extending between a Wristband and finger loops. The length of the elastic member causes it to bias the metacarpal bones in a direction promoting appropriate wrist action in athletic events.

A glove for basketball players includes an elastic member with free edges which run approximately parallel to the metacarpal bones when worn, and is attached at one end around the first phalanges of the wearers hand, so that forward movement of the hand about the wrist joint is produced. The basketball glove may also include pads which prevent a player from resting the ball in the palm of his hand.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part of our copending application Ser. No. 658,471 filed Aug. 4, 1967, now abandoned, for Basketball Glove and Method of Training Basketball Players.

BACKGROUND In various athletic events, it is important for players to snap their wrist to effect a proper follow-through, as when swinging a bat or throwing a ball. The importance of this wrist action is often forgotten or neglected, which results in impaired performance by the individual player. This is particularly true in basketball, but is also applicable to other athletic contests.

This invention is directed to a glove which is useful in teaching athletes the importance of the proper wrist action, and for promoting such wrist action during athletic contests.

The proper passing and shooting of a basketball also requires that the player handle the ball with the thumb and fingers, rather than resting the ball on his palm. Some coaches believe that only the finger tips should be used, while others permit the use of other portions of the fingers. Some forms of the invention disclosed herein deter the player from palming the ball by providing a suitably shaped pad in the palm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to a principal feature of this invention a glove has an elastic member which extends between the athletes wrist and hand to produce a desired inclination of the metacarpal bones with respect to the arm. The elastic member is attached at one end to a wrist-encircling band and at the other end to finger-encircling lOOps at the base of the fingers.

A spacer member on the inside of the wristband is preferably used to hold the elastic member outwardly from the players wrist, and to provide an abutment sur face which deters movement of the wristband in a direction toward the fingers.

An important feature of the invention is the presence of a pad in the palm of the wearers hand at a location where the pad will deter palming of a basketball. The pad has its area of maximum thickness located in the players palm in the vicinity of the transverse carpal ligament 3,501,773 Patented Mar. 24, 1970 or at a location at least two inches from the juncture of the index and middle finger portions of the players hand and the glove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The construction of various exemplary forms of the invention are described in the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a glove which has a projecting pad portion forming a ridge across the palm;

FIGURE 2 is a rear plan view of the glove of FIG- URE l;

FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views of the projecting pad member, shown in FIGURE 1 as seen along the lines 3-3, 44 and 55, respectively;

FIGURE 6 is a view of the front of a glove employing an arcuately-shaped projecting pad member;

FIGURE 7 is a view of the rear face of a typical glove;

FIGURE 8 is a side elevation of a basketball glove provided with an elastic member which produces the desired wrist action follow-through when throwing a basketball;

FIGURE 9 is a view of the front portion of a glove of the type shown in FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken along the line 10l0 in FIGURE 9;

FIGURE 11 is a perspective view of a glove formed of elastic fabric which is similar in principle to the glove of FIGURE 1, but without a pad in the wearers palm;

FIGURES 12 and 13 are side and perspective views, respectively, of a modified form of the invention which promotes inclination of the wrist about an axis which lies perpendicular to the palm of the wearer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, it will be seen that one suitable construction according to the invention includes a molded elastic rubber glove 2 which has a front panel portion 4 and a rear panel portion 6 which is shown in FIG- URE 2. The glove 2 has a series of finger portions 8, 10, 12 and 14 which have openings in their uppermost ends for the index, middle, ring and little fingers, respectively, of the wearer. The finger portions do not extend over the second and third phalanges.

The rubber glove 2 may be attached tightly to the wrist of the wearer by means of a band 16. Suitable fastening means such as snaps, buttons or Velcro fabric may be used for uniting the opposite ends of the band 16.

It will be noted that the palm portion of the glove 2 provides an elastic member which extends between the finger loops 8, 10, 12 and 14 and the wrist-encircling band 16. The intermediate portion of this elastic member has free side edges which are unconnected to anything which will restrict it from expanding and contracting as the player flexes his wrist. The suitable longitudinal dimensions of this elastic palm portion will vary from individual-toindividual, depending upon the size of his hand; but, in any event, its relaxed length from the finger loops to the wristband will be less than the corresponding distance on the players hand. Accordingly, the elastic palm portion will be under tension when the glove is worn in order to bias the metacarpal bones in a forward direction to promote the proper wrist action when the ball is thrown.

The front panel 4 of the glove includes a palm portion which overlies the palm of the wearers hand and a pair of heel pad portions 18 and 20 which overlie the pads at the heel of the wearers hand. The heel pad portion near the thumb overlies the abductor pollicis brevis muscle and the fiexor pollicis brevis muscle, and the heel pad on the little finger side of the hand is that portion which overlies the abductor digiti V muscle and the flector 3 digiti V brevis muscles. The area of the front of the hand intermediate the two heel pad portions is the area in which the transverse carpal ligament lies.

A projecting pad member 22 is located in the palm portion of the glove. This pad member provides a straight elongated ridge across the front portion of the glove which is aligned with a line which extends from a point at the juncture of the index finger portion 8 and the middle finger portion 10 to a point located between the heel pad portions 18 and 20. FIGURES 3 and 4 show that the pad member 22 has a rounded uppermost surface which is desirable since it will prevent a player from balancing the ball on the palm of his hand. As indicated in FIG- URE 5, the longitudinal cross section of the pad member 22 also is rounded and has an area of maximum thickness located in the palm at a point at least two inches from the juncture of the index and middle finger portions 8 and 10. At its area of maximum thickness, the pad 22 has a thickness of to inch.

In using a glove constructed in accordance with FIG- URES l and 2, a player will discover that the pad 22 will be generally parallel to the index finger when the hand is in a normal ball-throwing position with the fingers spread apart. Similarly, it will be noticed that the location of the pad 22 is midway between the tip of the players thumb and the tip of his little finger. This arrangement is desirable because it encourages the player to distribute the weight and contact with the ball equally upon all of his fingers including the thumb. The thickness of the pad is such that it will prevent the player from bringing the ball into contact with the palm of the hand while still permitting him to hold his fingers apart at a normal throwing spread. Whenever the player tends to lapse into a condition where he palms the ball, the ball will contact the pad and the pressure will be transmitted to the palm of the players hand, reminding him that he is holding the ball improperly.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 6, an arcuate pad portion 26 has its center of curvature located in a direction toward the index and middle finger portions 8 and 10. The arcuate pad may be in the shape of an arc of a circle, but such is not essential. The radius of its inner edge should be at least 2 and /2 inches.

One end of the arcuate pad 26 extends in a direction toward the little finger portion 14, while its opposite end extends toward and over the thumb portion 15. This particular shape and location of the pad is related to and cooperates with the tips of the players little finger and thumb when holding a ball and provides a somewhat continuous ridge which extends from the thumb to the little finger.

There are several features which are shared by the pads 22 and 26. Both are preferably made of soft porous resilient material such as sponge rubber or resilient foam in order to permit the front portion of the glove to conform somewhat to the contour of the players hand while shooting. In both, a player will be induced to use all of his fingers while maintaining the fingers in their spread position without resting the ball in his palm. The maximum thickness of the pads is from to inch and there is no portion thicker than that portion lying intermediate the heel pad portions of the hand and at least two inches from the juncture of the index and middle finger portions of the hand and glove.

FIGURES 7-10 illustrate a glove similar to the FIG- URE 1 embodiment, in that it encourages a wrist action follow-through of a player when throwing a basketball. FIGURE 7 merely shows the rear portion of a glove which may also be used in the type of glove shown in FIGURE 6. It includes a panel 28 of elastic fabric, a vent 30 and a fastening tab 32 which is used to hold the glove on the wearer. The tab 32 has fastening means such as a snap or Velcro fabric which engages a mating element thereb n ath.

The glove which is shown in FIGURE 8 has a relatively wide band 34 of flexible elastic fabric or other elastic material which is attached at one end to the front portion of the glove adjacent to finger portions. The other end of the elastic member 34 carries a wrist band 36 which is adapted to encircle the wearers wrist in the vicinity of the dorsal carpal ligament.

The length of the elastic member 34 is such that it will be under tension when the band 36 encircles a wrist. This will be appreciated from FIGURE 9 where the elastic member 34 is in a relaxed condition and the band 36 is spaced inwardly of the wrist of the glove.

The band 36 has an interiorly located spacer 38 which may be of cellulose sponge material which serves the dual function of spacing the lower end of the elastic member 34 outwardly from the wrist and providing an abutment surface which prevents the wristband from slipping toward the palm.

It will be appreciated from FIGURE 8 that the tendency of the elastic member 34 is to produce a forward biasing force which causes the entire hand to snap forwardly from the wrist when throwing a basketball.

The glove shown in FIGURE 11 is similar in principle to the glove shown in FIGURES l and 2 in the sense that it provides an elastic member with free side edges which extend across the palm of the wearer. The glove of FIG- URE 11 is made of a knit elastic fabric and it has openings 50, 52, 54 and 56 which provide finger loops for receiving the wearers fingers. This glove includes a back panel 58 and a palm panel 60. The palm panel is formed of an elastic member which preferably but not essentially is longitudinally extensible along each increment thereof from the finger loops to the wristband. The free side edges 62 and 64 of the palm portion 60 are bound by an elastic material and they are unconnected to anything which will limit the freedom of palm portion 60 to expand and contract during wear.

The lower portion of the glove of FIGURE 11 includes a wristband having portions 66 and 68 which join by Velcro material or other suitable fasteners at the adjoining surfaces 70 so that the wristband will snugly fit about the wrist of a wearer. A relatively thick pad of resilient foam material 72 is located on the inside of the wrist loop and provides an abutment surface 74. When the device is worn, the abutment surface 74 will ride against the folds in the skin at the wearers wrist, thereby preventing displacement of the wristband in a direction toward his palm.

The distance between the wrist band and the finger loops 50, 52, 54 and 56 is selected to bias the hand in a forward direction with respect to the arm. Accordingly, the distance from the finger loops to the wristband is less than the corresponding dimension of a wearers hand so that the elastic palm portion 60 Will be under tension when the glove is worn.

The modified form of the invention shown in FIGURES 12 and 13 is suited for athletic events where the desired wrist action is in a transverse direction, i.e., in a direction parallel to the palm and perpendicular to the fingers. In this embodiment, the glove has finger loop openings 74, 76, 78 and 80. The glove is made of knit elastic fabric which extends from the finger loops to a wristband 82 in a fashion whereby the portion between the finger loops and the wristband will have a U-shaped transverse cross section. Layers of inextensible fabric 84 and 86 surround the strap 82 of the wristband where it is sewn to the elastic portions of the glove. A pad 88 is located on the interior of the wristband to provide an abutment surface preventing upward displacement of the wrist band. As in the previous embodiments, suitable fastener materials or devices may be used to interconnect the opposite ends of the wristband.

A piece of heavy-duty elastic material 90 is sewn to that portion of the glove member which lies along the little finger side of the hand. The dimensions of this glove are such that the distance from the finger loops to the wristband is less that the corresponding dimension of the wearers hand. The results in the tendency of the glove to bias the entire hand in a transverse direction since the elastic glove is under tension along the little finger side of the hand. The presence of free side edges 92 and 94 avoids any counteraction of the lateral biasing force. As explained previously, this type of glove is useful in training athletes for events such as batting in baseball where a side wrist action is desired.

The above described devices have been found to be useful in the training of athletes for events which require a proper wrist action and follow-through. The objects of the invention are satisfied by the structure defined in the following claims.

We claim:

1. An athletic glove, comprising finger loops for encircling the base of a wearers fingers,

an elastic member connected to the finger loops at the base of a wearers fingers,

a wrist band connected to the elastic member at a location spaced from the finger loops, said wristband having releasable fastener means for holding it tightly around the wrist of a wearer in the form of a loop to prevent displacement of the band in a direction toward the wearers fingers,

said elastic member having free side edges and dimensions from the finger loops to the wristband which will maintain it normally under tension when worn; thereby producing an inclination of the metacarpal bones with respect to the arm.

2. An athletic glove according to claim 1 wherein the wristband includes a spacer for lying against the wearers wrist, said spacer having an abutment edge facing in a direction toward a palm of a wearer to prevent slipping of the wristband under the influence of the elastic member.

3. An athletic glove according to claim 1 wherein the entire glove, exclusive of the finger loops and the wristband, is made of elastic material.

4. An athletic glove according to claim 1 wherein the elastic member has a U-shaped transverse cross section with each of the finger loops being attached to the elastic member on both the palm and back side of the glove whereby the elastic member will incline the metacarpal bones in a transverse direction.

5. An athletic glove according to claim 4 wherein the wristband includes a spacer for lying against the wearers wrist, said spacer having an abutment edge facing in a direction toward a palm of a wearer to prevent slipping of the wristband under the influence of the elastic member.

6. An athletic glove according to claim 1 suited for the game of basketball, said elastic member having both free side edges extending across the palm side of the glove to bias the metacarpal bones in a forward direction.

7. An athletic glove according to claim 6 having a projecting pad located to overlie the palm of a wearers hand, said pad having its maximum thickness located at least twoinches from the juncture of the middle and index finger of a wearer.

8. An athletic glove according to claim 6 wherein the wristband includes a spacer for lying against the wearers wrist, said spacer having an abutment edge facing in a direction toward a palm of a wearer to prevent slipping of the wristband under the influence of the elastic memher.

9. An athletic glove according to claim 8 having a projecting pad located to overlie the palm of a wearers hand, said pad having its maximum thickness located at least two inches from the juncture of the middle and index fingers of a wearer.

10. An athletic glove according to claim 8 wherein the entire glove, exclusive of the finger loops and the wrist band, is made of elastic material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,716,221 6/1929 Fernie 2166 3,031,680 5/1962 Compiano 2l59 3,152,337 10/1964 Balrry 2159 3,344,436 10/ 1967 Stubbs 2159 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. V. LARKIN, Assistant 'Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 273-54 

